WHAT PART OF INTERNATIONAL TREATY DO THEY NOT UNDERSTAND?

RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil's Supreme Court on Thursday delayed the return of a 9-year-old boy to his U.S. father only hours after the man arrived from New Jersey in hopes of taking the boy home for Christmas.

David Goldman's son, Sean, was kidnapped five years ago by his then-wife and taken to Brazil where she then divorced Mr. Goldman and subsequently married another man. She died giving birth to her second child, a daughter! Mr. Goldman was, even then, attempting to get his son back. Since then, her widower, a man with no blood relationship or claim to Sean Goldman, has been blocking David Goldman's wholly legal access to his son with the aid of the Brazilian court system.

Brazil is a signatory to an international treaty which specifically states that in the cases of parental abduction, the child is to be returned to the custodial parent immediately and in the past five years, Brazil has done everything in its power to keep a father and son separated - not even permitting Mr. Goldman to SEE his son except on a limited basis.

To his credit, President Obama has been putting pressure on Brazil to give Sean Goldman back to his father, along with the U.S. Congress and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton have all urged the child's return, and a U.S. congressman traveled to Rio on Thursday to continue lobbying for Sean's return.

Brazil - quit crapping around and behaving like a third-world thugocracy. Allow Sean Goldman to return to the United States with his father David Goldman. Enough with permitting Sean's Brazilian grandparents and his mother's former husband to treat the biological father of Sean Goldman as though he has no rights to his own son. That's bullshit, any way you slice it and all of you should be ashamed of yourselves!

UPDATE: Brazilian grandparents ordered to turn the child over to his father!

Both the U.S. and Brazilian governments have said the matter clearly fell under the Hague Convention, which seeks to ensure that custody decisions are made by the courts in the country where a child originally lived — in this case, the United States.

Silvana Bianchi, Sean's maternal grandmother, wrote an open letter to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva just hours before the Tuesday ruling, in which she said cultural differences and international pressure were driving the case.

"Our moral foundation values the mother's role. In the absence of the mother, the raising should be done by the grandmother," she wrote. "That's how it's done in Brazil, from north to south, regardless of race, religion or social class. It's natural that foreigners, with a different foundation, would not understand these authentically Brazilian feelings." (Does the old biddy understand International Law? and is she suggesting that her family's money and influence is more weighty than a father's right to raise his own son?)

Meanwhile, Goldman has said his parents and other relatives have been waiting for years to be reunited with Sean.

Silva has said he would not intervene in the case, that it was purely a matter for Brazil's legal system.

(Actually, it’s a matter for international law and U.S. law, whether the Brazilians like it or not! Authentically Brazilian feelings are apparently to disregard and disrespect a child’s legal parent!)

UPDATE #2: Sean Goldman is now in the United States with his father. This is a good thing. It will take a while for the wounds inflicted by the selfishness of Sean's mother and the unbelievably insensitive behavior of his stepfather and his grandparents to be healed. Meanwhile, negotiations are underway to arrange for the Brazilian grandparents to visit Sean.

It is commendable that David Goldman does not intend to do to them what was done to him! I applaud him for his decency and concern that his son continue to know his maternal grandparents through the years. But David - make sure they never get their hot little hands on Sean's passport and make sure that their visits are always supervised!

UPDATE #3: In a statement dripping with effrontery and arrogance, the Brazilian grandparents of 9 year old Sean Goldman have now announced that they are going to continue the fight to remove Sean Goldman from his father's care and custody and return him to the custody of his grandparents in Brazil - the same grandparents who wouldn't even permit David Goldman to see his own son during their entire five-year separation. What kind of evil people are these? Please do not tell me they are loving grandparents. The father of this child is the truly loving one - he is willing to allow Sean to spend time with his grandparents - granted under supervision and in his own home here in the U.S. But here is the statement from the attorney for the grandparents:

SAO PAULO – The Brazilian family of a 9-year-old boy returned by court order to his U.S. father said Tuesday it will fight to regain custody.

Lawyers for the relatives of Sean Goldman said they will push forward with a request from his Brazilian grandmother to allow the boy to make his own wishes known in court.

Nine-year old boys are not permitted to express their wishes! And the longer it takes for the grandparents to get this kid into court, the less effective will be the brainwashing they have inflicted on him. This is not love, this is child abuse!